Stoeger Coach Guns

I bought my wife one for Cowboy Action Shooting. They're good guns. Depending on what you're going to use it for, it may not be what you want right out of the box.
If you're going to compete with it then I recommend taking to a CAS savvy gunsmith before you even try to use it in a match. They can be hard to open, the safety automatically engages after each loading and the spent shells may or may not be easy to pull out.
If you want it for fun or as a house gun then it should be fine right out of the box.

Very fun guns. I bought one about 8 months ago and it's never failed me. They're built tough and availible for a great price. I can shoot clays with it and have actuall bird hunted once or twice with it. It patterns better than what you would expect for a gun with 20" barrels.

Mine is the 12 gauge model, and with 3" magnums the thing has a lot of kick to it. I put a Shooter's Friend recoil pad on mine (better than limbsaver, in my opinion) and shooting 3" magnums doesn't hurt as badly anymore. However, if you're going to be putting standard loads through it, you wont need one.

I got the missus one in 410 with Winchester 3" 000 buck at 15 feet a double tap is enough to cause as many leaks in the hide as my 9mm using a full mag, the holes are almost the same size too.



one shot one kill

It's very portable, Tear. An extra two inches isn't going to be bothersome. The shotgun is short overall due to its design.

I've got a deluxe model with screw-in chokes. Even so it only cost me $360. I've used it in only one match so far but after I learned to bring it down and stop shooting over the target, it shoots higher than my '97, it fuctioned quite well. Fit and finish is very nice, as is the walnut furniture.

Tex

I am already sold on one. Soon as extra funds are here I am going to get the 12 ga Coach gun Supreme.

I bought the 410 ga,coach gun supreme for rabbit hunting.I have put quite a few rounds threw it so far,it has been flawless,frank c.

I bought one several years ago for Cowboy Action shooting. I immediately made three modifications.

1) As it comes from the factory, the safety engages everytime you break it open. Although I appreciate a safety on my shotguns, I prefer to have the option to engage it only when I want to. I modified the safety such that it does not automatically engage, but is still quite functional in a more normal fashion.

2) The action was quite stiff. A bit of judicious filing and polishing made a world of difference, as the gun now falls open with ease (much more desireable from a competition standpoint). BUT, be careful not to remove too much material. A little at a time, try the action and then proceed slowly and methodically.

3) Polished the chambers just a touch to allow the hulls to fall out more easily - again much better for competition shooting.

I believe this little coach gun is a great value and would work for most utility purposes just as it comes out of the box. I only made the mods to facilitate a more competition-ready configuration. Please do not read this post as my suggestion that you do ANY modifications to your own shotty. This is simply my experience. You will have to decide in your own mind whether you need to do anything to it.

stellarpod

I've been thinking about having the same mods done on mine for that exact purpose. I didn't know you could have the safety modified so it wasn't automatic but still functioned. Is it hard to do yourself?

Tex

With the proper legal NFA class 3 paperwork, Stoegers also make great sawed-offs. Here's one of the couple I've made. They aren't that expensive of a gun to work with and are also reliable enough to shoot and have fun with.

Very nice, Punisher! What gauge is it? How punishing is the recoil (pun intended)?

Wdlsguy, the gun is a 12ga. Recoil isn't bad at all. A lot of people think these types of guns just have crazy recoil and fly back or jump out of your hands but with my experience, it's not true at all. To get an idea of what the recoil would be like, take a regular length Stoeger with some light 2-3/4 loads and shoot from the hip. You'll see that the recoil isn't that bad, right? Well even with the barrels and stock cut down, it's still about the same as that...nothing scary. Of course if you shoot one-handed, you'll feel it pretty good, but there is no reason to shoot it like that anyhow. Two hands holding it like normal from the hip or in front of you is no big deal.

You need to be 21 to own an NFA weapon. According to the NFA FAQ you need a C&R FFL to own non-C&R machineguns, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns in Missouri.

Tearlachblair,
Like wdlsguy just mentioned, you have to be at least 21 to deal with NFA stuff.

If you don't do the paperwork, the barrels can't be shorter than 18" while at the same time the overall length of the gun can't be shorter than 26". If you do the paperwork, fingerprints, photos, etc, you can have everything as short as you want. As far as shortening the stock to a pistol grip, I do all the woodwork myself. If you don't want to attempt it, I'd try finding a gunsmith or woodworker who would be willing to do the job for you. It's a little more than just cutting the wood. I bore out the inside, install a plug and a shorter bolt, etc to attach the grip to the receiver. It's all custom to fit. I'm attaching some photos of another new Stoeger I'm in the process of making into a class 3 project right now.
You'll see the stainless socket head cap screw in the closeup grip photo. I've already removed the checkering, re-stained and refinished the wood. The forend has been shortened extensively and checkering removed. I still have to finish staining and oil finishing that one. When all is said and done with legal paperwork, the barrels will be cut to about 8-1/4". Extreme, but fun stuff!

Punisher,

What you're doing is exactly what I want to do with my stoeger once I find an 870 to replace it. Tell me, have you done any internal work regarding the switch used to open the action? My stoeger is stiff to move with my thumb, but it opens much easier once I broke it in. Still, the little switch makes it where I can't open it with one hand (Which would, obviously, be very important to the cool factor of a sawed off shotgun. ).

I've heard of people making it much lighter to operate, have you done any of that?

Deer Hunter,
What I have done to make the lever easier to open is take the buttstock off. Next, you'll see the coil spring/plunger that moves the safety on when the lever is moved to open the barrels. If you carefully take some needlenose pliers or something that won't cause damage, you can pull back on the spring/plunger to the rear (it will be tight) and then pull it to the side and out of the receiver. Next, I take the plunger and grind off a little bit at a time on the end that would hit the safety mechanism. When it is put back together, the lever will be able to open up further since the part you ground off doesn't run into the safety as much. At least this worked on my guns. If you take off too much, the safety will only operate manually, since the full opening of the lever will not allow the plunger to engage it because of the part you ground down. I hope I made sense of this. If it's confusing, I'm going to take some pictures of mine and label everything and post it later this evening when I'm home from work. I'll also go more indepth on why this plunger that hits the lever to operate the safety will also possibly let the gun open up easier.

Very informative, not TOO confusing for someone without much gunsmithing knowledge. Pictures would be great, though.

Deer Hunter,
In the meantime, check out this link: http://www.marauder.homestead.com/files/Stoeger.html

It has the info for the question you are asking and which I was trying to describe. This is where I got my info from. At the bottom of the page, you see another link to photos of some of the things the guy there is describing.
Take note to the steps on shortening the spring and/or replacing it with a lighter aftermarket one. The concern is not to take too much off of the spring though since that is what also keeps the lever closed when it needs to be. I can still take some pics of mine later if you want.

Thanks for the information, Punisher! I slicked up the opening operation a little bit tonight, and I'll keep it like it is until after my dove hunt this fall. It falls open much easier, and I'm almost done with the left cylinder so the shells fall out much easier, but I need to get a better drill attachment first. All that's left is the lever spring, and I'll save that for another day (quite possibly tomorrow ).

My stoeger sits in three pieces on the dresser beside this computer. Thanks again for the info.

Punisher,
Are those SBS or AOW? I'm looking to make my own and I dont know what to classify it as on the paper work.

Jeb_ingram,
These are short barreled shotguns, (SBS) not AOW. Since the shotgun originally came with a full length buttstock from the factory and then I modified it, it has to be classified as SBS. If the shotgun came new from the factory already as a pistol grip, it would be classified as an AOW.

Punisher,

Thanks again for the link, my gun is slick now.